The invention relates to electronic instruments housing configurations, and more particularly to orientation of external connectors.
Electronic instruments such as oscilloscopes (xe2x80x9cscopesxe2x80x9d) are employed for test and measurement of circuitry and other electronic devices and systems. Often, the oscilloscope is set up on a bench along with the device under test, with wire connections made between the two. Normally, the scope has a front display screen and user interface control panel on its front panel surface, which is oriented vertically or nearly vertically as the scope rests on the bench. To make room for the device under test, the scope is commonly positioned at the rear of the bench, with the device immediately in front of the scope, if there is adequate room.
While convenient for some oscilloscope configurations, certain scopes are not well suited to this convenient arrangement with the device under test. Certain oscilloscopes include personal computer (PC) circuitry inside, using the powerful microprocessors that are available at a relatively low cost. These scopes provide great speed and computational power for a low price compared to scopes with custom designed microprocessors. The PC microprocessors used in oscilloscopes are normally mounted on conventional PC mother boards, to which other circuit boards are typically connected. External devices such as printers, other computers, or networks are often connected to such scopes by cables connected to electronic connectors mounted to a rear panel of the scope housing, and connected internally to the mother board.
Oscilloscopes using PC processors and motherboard have been built with housings necessarily large to accommodate these components and other oscilloscope circuitry and components. The motherboard in such a system is oriented in a vertical or horizontal plane extending from front to back in the instrument, to allow the connectors to be mounted on the rear panel. This necessitates a significantly larger housing depth (front-to-back) than would be desired, making it often impractical to position the device under test in front of the scope. Moreover, the cables and their connectors generally protrude further from the rear panel, increasing the effective depth of the instrument.
It is also desirable to be able to secure the scope in a rack mount, in which only the rectangular front panel of the scope is exposed, and the remainder of the instrument is concealed within a rack cabinet. This precludes a reorientation of the mother board to reduce cabinet depth, because such would position the cable connectors on a side of the housing. Cables would thus protrude, and it would be impossible to insert the scope into a rack slot closely sized to fit the housing and front panel.
The embodiments disclosed herein overcome these limitations by providing an electronic instrument with a housing in the form of a rectangular body. The housing has a front panel with a display screen, and opposed side panels extending perpendicularly from the front panel to a rear panel. The housing defines a cavity adjacent to the rear panel and at least one of the side panels. The cavity includes a recessed panel portion having attached electronic connectors, so that cables connected to the connectors can flex to avoid protruding from the side panel to facilitate rack mounting, and may extend without protruding from the rear panel for bench usage. A circuit board to which the connectors and a microprocessor are connected may be oriented parallel to the rear panel, allowing a limited front-to-rear depth for the housing.